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DECISION No

DECISION No. 44/2002/QD-TTg OF MARCH 21, 2002 ON THE USE OF ELECTRONIC VOUCHERS AS ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS FOR CAPITAL ACCOUNTING AND SETTLEMENT BY PAYMENT SERVICE-PROVIDING ORGANIZATIONS

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to Vietnam State Bank Law No.01/1997/QH10 of December 12, 1997 and Credit Institutions Law No.02/1997/QH10 of December 12, 1997;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Accounting and Statistics of May 10, 1988;

Pursuant to the Government�s Decree No.64/2001/ND-CP of September 20, 2001 on payment activities through payment service-providing organizations;

At the proposal of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- Payment service-providing organizations (including the State Bank of Vietnam, banks and other organizations licensed to provide payment services) are allowed to use electronic vouchers as accounting documents in the capital accounting and settlement.

Article 2.- Electronic vouchers mean accounting documents whose elements are presented in form of encrypted electronic data without any change in the process of transmission via computer networks or on such information carriers as magnetic tapes, magnetic disks and payment cards of various kinds.

Electronic vouchers must have all elements prescribed for accounting documents, thus ensuring the legality of accounting documents and be encrypted to ensure the safety in the process of information processing, transmission and storage. Particularly, the autograph element must be encrypted by encoding keys - and then shall be called electronic signature. Electronic signature shall be created for each individual to define powers and responsibilities of the creator and related persons who are responsible for the safety and accuracy of electronic vouchers. Electronic signatures on electronic vouchers are valid like signatures by hand on paper documents.

Article 3.- The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam shall have to prescribe the standards, specifications of forms, reflection norms and data structure of electronic vouchers; the creation, allocation and management of codes in electronic payment among payment service-providing organizations (including electronic signatures).

Article 4.- Payment service-providing organizations that use electronic vouchers shall have the responsibility:

- To create, process, use, preserve and store electronic vouchers in strict compliance with the regulations of Vietnam State Bank Governor and relevant regulations of the State.

- To keep confidential and preserve information data on electronic vouchers in the course of use and storage.

- To equip technical facilities (including back-up system) for the purposes of exploiting, processing and using electronic vouchers.

- To conduct tight management and inspection in order to prevent and fight against forms of abuse, unauthorized exploitation, hacking, copying, stealing or use of electronic vouchers for purposes contrary to the regulations on confidentiality and supply of information and figures by payment service-providing organizations.

Article 5.- Payment service-providing organizations shall have to fully supply information, electronic vouchers and guide the use of equipment in service of the inspection and reading of vouchers at inspection requests of the competent agencies.

Article 6.- Electronic vouchers already used for book-keeping accounting and settlement must be printed on paper in forms of vouchers or list of vouchers when necessary. Vouchers or list of vouchers, after being printed on paper, must be checked, signed and stamped for certification by chief accountants and general directors or directors of the payment service-providing organizations (or authorized persons) according to the regulations.

Article 7.- Individuals and organizations that violate the provisions of this Decision and law provisions on electronic documents shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned or examined for penal liability. If material damage is caused, they must make compensations therefor according to the provisions of law.

Article 8.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing and replaces the Prime Minister�s Decision No.196/TTg of April 1, 1997 on the use of information data on information carriers as accounting and settling documents of banks and credit institutions.

Article 9.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decision.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI